The government has announced measures to speed up and simplify the application of equal pay legislation.

Employment minister, Tessa Jowell, on Tuesday set out new steps in Labour's plans to close the "gender pay gap" by simplifying and streamlining legislation.

The government is also to fund £145,000 worth of training to enable trade union representatives to carry out pay reviews.

Thirty years after the enactment of equal pay legislation women's earnings are still only 82 per cent of their male counterparts.

To tackle the gender pay gap the government has launched a number of initiatives from a women's employment and pay review to "fair pay champions" and last year's consultation on streamlining the tribunal claims system.

Stressing that employment tribunal claims are a "last resort", Jowell described equal opportunity cases as "a hell for women" - cases can take between five months and two years.

Pledging to cut the "unjust and unfair" red tape and bureaucracy Jowell set out three measures to make life easier for women seeking equal pay:

- Simplifying paperwork and saving up to £1,250,000 annually in tribunal costs with more cases settled informally.

- Speeding up the tribunal's decision by cutting down on evidence from experts and getting "assessors" to advice the adjudicators. The government is also scrapping "detailed" procedural regulations.

- The government is making the system "fairer by removing both the "no reasonable grounds" defence and the two year time limit on back pay.